A/N: Haiii, it's Jazz and I'm really bored so I literally wrote this a few minutes ago (that's why it's very short). You may notice how my fics are centred around depressing things... I just don't like writing happy stuff - Jazz x
It was early spring and raining, again. Today was supposed to be a happy day but everyone just seemed miserable, all that could be heard was the faint sound of footsteps up and down the corridors. Rita stood at reception, running her hands through her hair that was now dripping thanks to the stupid weather, today marked the third week in a row that she has been standing at reception and making frustrated noises.
"What is it today then?" she heard someone ask, the same person that asked every day, Charlie, she noticed how no-one else seemed to listen. They all asked but they never listened to her answer, Charlie did.
"The usual" she muttered, it had been 'The usual' for the past four weeks now – 'The usual' referring to a certain annoyance in her life, the annoyance that was Connie Beauchamp,
"Don't let her get to you" Charlie said, just as he always and did then he turned to walk away, probably to offer help somewhere.
Normally, Rita would just nod like every other day, it was like a routine in her life now. She'd go to work, have her conversation with Charlie and then fake a smile and pretend she was ok until her shift ended.
"She's finally done it!" Rita snapped which caused Charlie to turn around, "I've snapped, well truth be told, I snapped three weeks ago!" she continued to yell.
Charlie made his way over to Rita and enveloped her in a hug, "It's ok…" he told her this quite a few times but it had almost no effect on her, all it did was get Rita to be quiet for a few seconds.
"It isn't ok!" she shouted, her voice was muffled due to the hug she was in, "It isn't ok! Because I've been cutting for three weeks…".
Charlie noticed how she quietened at the last bit, like she was being forced to say it – much like how a small child would apologize when being forced to – he held her closer and patted her back softly, this had more of an effect than his earlier attempt of getting her to be calm.
"I'm sorry" she said, eyes full of tears that were threatening to spill onto her face.
She pulled herself away from the hug then hurried outside and perched on a bench. After several minutes of sobbing and cursing herself for being so stupid, Rita found herself looking up at Charlie, she wiped her face with her hand and noticed that her mascara had been ruined from all the crying.
Charlie had come outside to make sure she was ok, and to stop her from catching a cold in the rain. He sat next to her and held the umbrella above them both.
"Why do you do it?" he asked after a long – however, comfortable – silence, Rita knew exactly what he meant but she couldn't find the right words to express how she felt.
"Stress" she said simply, "All the work, double shifts, constantly being watched like I'm not trusted to do the simplest of things… It's all too much".
"Why didn't you tell me…? Or anyone?" Charlie asked, he was now mentally slapping himself for not noticing sooner that Rita was acting up.
"Nobody asked…" she replied slowly then left to go back to the life that she now knew as hell.